Microorganism of the genus Corynebacterium with enhanced ability to produce L-arginine and method for producing L-arginine using the same

Abstract

The present invention relates to a microorganism of the genus Corynebacterium, which has an enhanced activity of aspartate ammonia-lyase and/or aspartate aminotransferase, and thus has an enhanced ability to produce L-arginine, and to a method of producing L-arginine using the microorganism of the genus Corynebacterium.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A microorganism of the genus  Corynebacterium  with enhanced ability to produce L-arginine, which is transformed to have an enhanced activity of aspartate ammonia-lyase and aspartate aminotransferase, wherein the aspartate aminotransferase is derived from a microorganism of the genus  Corynebacterium;  
 wherein said enhanced activity is obtained by a method selected from: 
 a) increasing the copy number of a nucleotide sequence encoding aspartate ammonia-lyase and aspartate aminotransferase in said microorganism; or 
 b) replacing the promoter with a strong promoter in said microorganism. 
 
     
     
       2. The microorganism of  claim 1 , wherein the aspartate ammonia-lyase is derived from a microorganism of the genus  Corynebacterium  or a microorganism of the genus  Escherichia coli.    
     
     
       3. The microorganism according to  claim 1 , wherein the aspartate ammonia-lyase has an amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 21 or 22. 
     
     
       4. The microorganism according to  claim 1 , wherein the aspartate aminotransferase has an amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 25. 
     
     
       5. The microorganism according to  claim 1 , wherein the microorganism of the genus  Corynebacterium  is  Corynebacterium glutamicum.    
     
     
       6. A method for producing L-arginine, comprising the steps of:
 culturing the microorganism of  claim 1  in a culture medium; and 
 recovering L-arginine from the culture medium. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 6 , wherein the aspartate ammonia-lyase is derived from a microorganism of the genus  Corynebacterium  or a microorganism of the genus  Escherichia coli.    
     
     
       8. The method according to  claim 6 , wherein the aspartate ammonia-lyase has an amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 21 or 22. 
     
     
       9. The method according to  claim 6 , wherein the aspartate aminotransferase has an amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 25. 
     
     
       10. The method according to  claim 6 , wherein the microorganism of the genus  Corynebacterium  is  Corynebacterium glutamicum.    
     
     
       11. The microorganism of  claim 1 , wherein the method of increasing the copy number of a nucleotide sequence is performed by transformation with vector comprising a polynucleotide encoding aspartate ammonia-lyase and aspartate aminotransferase.